Here's your pinball history lesson for the day: In 1942, pinball machines were deemed gambling devices and made illegal in New York City, prompting police to seize and destroy some 3000 machines. That law was reversed, according to the NYT, "in 1976, when a 26-year old pinball wizard named Roger Sharpe predicted - and made - a predetermined shot in a courtroom, thus proving that pinball was not, in fact, a game of chance." [NYT via The Awl]